Why is cheese mould unlike other mouldy foods, in that you can eat it and it’s even good for you?
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The moulds that make cheeses blue were first created by accident. We then utilized, categorized and essentially domesticated the species. Now we just add it to a suitable cheese and watch the magic happen. Also mould isn’t always bad anyway, make some kombucha, you’ll see.
Some “spoiled” foods are just ok to eat but most are poisonous (including most mould on cheese). So you have to “spoil” them in a specific and controlled manner.
yoghurt/kefir = spoiled milk
mead = spoilt honey
wine = spoiled grapes
spirits = spoiled and distilled fruit/grain/plantstuff
sauerkraut = spoiled cabbage
miso = spoiled beans
and many others
They’re not necessarily good for you, they are simply edible.
Some molds produce harmful substances, or things our body generally consideres to be very bad for us, others do not.
Also remember that many fruits out there are also toxic or not edible. There are quite a few berries which are toxic to humans. Not all chestnut species are edible. Some roots are toxic, heck, yew trees are completely toxic, the only edible component of the plant is the flesh of their fruits.
Trail and error most likely.
In the Roquefort region in France there are caves that hold a constant temperature year round so some folks got the idea that this would great place to store their sheep’s milk cheese. A glorious happy accident occurred. *Penicillinium requeforensis* was in those caves and the mold got onto the cheese, some fool decided to taste some and it changed everything.
There are no accidental blue cheeses in the modern world the molds are carefully maintained in pure cultures that are used to inoculate cheeses at just the right time.
*Pennicilium sp.* used in making cheeses do not produce significant amounts of that antibiotic.
Mold is not universally harmful. There’s several strains of mold (and other small fungi) that are used quite commonly in culinary applications, like yeast, used in helping bread rise and fermenting alcohol. Koji (Aspergillus Oryzae) is used in a lot of Asian fermentation to create soy sauce, fermented black soybeans, miso, some types of tofu, and alcohol like sake. Most molded cheeses like bleu cheeses and bries use one of several strains of Penicillium – which you may recognize as sharing a root with penicillin, one of the earliest antibiotics. These molds have antibacterial properties that help preserve the cheese from bacterial spoilage.
The danger with mold is that, with unchecked growth, they produce significant quantities of toxins that can be harmful to humans, but all of these fermentation processes above use controlled environments to limit those to safe quantities.
Cheese makers selectively use “non harmful” molds and dont let them come naturally.
For example blue cheese is made with a specific kind of penicilium fungi while brie for example uses another kind
They introduce it in enough amounts and the best environment so it can compete with other kinds of harmful bacteria
If they leave it alone it will produce something random which is more than likely not edible
Good for you im not sure. Yoghurt and kefir bacteria are known to be good for your gut but im not aure about cheese itself
Maybe its a by produxt of people mistaking the penicilium in cheese for the same peniciliun that makes the penicilin antibiotic
Certain charcuterie like salamis have penicillium moulds similar to cheeses like brie on them. In this case, the ‘good’ white mould outcompetes other harmful black and green moulds, ensuring the meats remain safe to eat. They do add a little flavour, but aren’t really there because they’re good; they’re encouraged because other moulds are bad.
What makes you think other moldy foods aren’t edible? Humans have been eating spoiled and moldy stuff for hundred of thousands of years
Only the specific strains of mould purposefully grown on cheese are safe to eat.
If you just take a random piece of Gouda and let mould grow, it has the same chance of being toxic as other foods that go bad.
Someone just noticed that those strains did minor safe fermentation improving the taste, and thus the new cheeses were innoculated with the edible mould. This prevents others moulds from growing by giving the good one a jump start and gives a better taste/
The same thing is done in other fermented foods like kimchi, or real Jogurt, just with bacteria in those.
Or bread and beer, with yeast fungi.
Funnily enough you can make mead without adding yeast rather easily, because honey contains plenty of wild yeast spores, so mos cases when you mix fresh honey with water; yeast is gilbt to win.
If you try the same with untreated wheat or rye, you have a good chance of ending up with sourdough: naturally occurring yeast and bacteria on those grains frequently outcompete other microbes while being save to eat.
But if you don‘t do this on purpose, there’s a risk toxic bacteria and fungi will grow.
Cheese works the samey
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